Surplus Value and Help for Japan

We are all concerned about the people of Japan as they recover from the devastation of Friday’s earthquake. If you’ve been living under a rock, the island nation experienced and 8.9 magnitude earthquake, a 23 foot tsunami wave and now a nuclear plant is leaking radiation. Scary stuff. Video images highlight the damage and the costs of cleanup will run into the billions of dollars. Billions.

Thinking about the ordinary costs of life causes enough stress. For many of the Japanese people their immediate concern is not the normal stress, but the unthinkable. Homes, businesses and farmland have been rendered useless. Where would you sleep if your home was destroyed? Where will you work and earn an income if your place of employment no longer exists? What will you eat today or tomorrow? These worries are very far from us, but very close to the people of Japan. Even if your home and job are unaffected, how will you help? Will you invite a stranger into your home and share your food? How long until that gets old?

The economic end of this tragedy highlights the importance of surplus value. Every business is in business to produce a profit by growing, making or improving something that someone will make an exchange for and we often use money to represent the trade. This sounds complicated, but really isn’t. When I work, I exchange my time and effort for a paycheck which I then use to trade for the things my family needs. Someone else used their time and effort and perhaps property to produce the thing I trade my money for. If I am wise, I will have more than I need and can anticipate some distance into the future to provide for my hungry children. If I am successful, I can use my money to trade for a higher standard of living or to save for future needs. This is ‘surplus value.’ Resources (money) have been produced in excess of need. Directing those resources appropriately is the owner’s responsibility. The ‘golden rule’applies here: he who has the gold, makes the rules.

In the American capitalist system, the means of producing value remain (mostly) in the hands of private individuals and this system has produced fantastic wealth. This is a good thing. Surplus value is necessary to pay taxes to the government, to provide for religious services and to help those in need. When the amount of surplus value declines the government receives less tax income, there are fewer jobs for clergy and less help for the needy. There is less surplus value in the world today, and that’s a bad thing. Particularly for the people in Japan who find themselves homeless and possession-less. They must rely on the surplus value created by other people for real daily necessities until they are able to return to creating their own. We are the ‘other people,’ and we have an obligation to dig deep and help out. Our current economic woes mean that we may not be able to help as much as we should.